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A Chicago woman was charged with aggravated battery after bragging on Facebook how she hit a woman in the face with a glass during an argument at a Near North bar last month, prosecutors said today. The incident occurred April 22 at The Leg Room, 7 W. Division St. Ruth Ramirez, 26, was quarreling with the 29-year-old victim –- whom she did not know --when she smashed a glass into the victim’s face and fled, prosecutors said. The victim was treated at St. Mary of Nazareth...

Disc jockey Ryan Levin expected a weekend warehouse party in Highland Park to go off without a hitch. But when three high school freshmen posted promos for the party on Facebook, the gig drew nearly 1,000 teens and police had to break it up because of safety concerns. “I guess it’s not really a good party until police shut you down or until someone gets thrown into the swimming pool,” said Levin, who owns Mobile Teen Dance Club. Read more at TribLocal.

A Far South Side man has been charged with raping a woman he met on Facebook. Wayne Smith, 25, of the 12200 block of South Wallace Street, was ordered held today on $200,000 bail on one count of aggravated criminal sexual assault . Prosecutors said the alleged attack of the 24-year-old woman took place at the home Smith shared with his mother. Prosecutors said Smith and the woman met for the first time Sunday night after first becoming acquainted on Facebook. The two went bowling with...

It began with a 7-year-old asking her mother to tie colorful “Jolly Rancher” candies to the ends of her braids, copying a hairstyle she had admired in a magazine, for school picture day. But the girl’s mother says a teacher posted pictures of the second grader on Facebook and then led online friends in mocking the hairdo. Now Chicago Public Schools says it’s investigating the incident. “The (Overton Elementary School) principal said...

A Chicago woman was charged with aggravated battery after bragging on Facebook how she hit a woman in the face with a glass during an argument at a Near North bar last month, prosecutors said today. The incident occurred April 22 at The Leg Room, 7 W. Division St. Ruth Ramirez, 26, was quarreling with the 29-year-old victim –- whom she did not know --when she smashed a glass into the victim’s face and fled, prosecutors said. The victim was treated at St. Mary of Nazareth...

The mother of a Chicago Public Schools second-grader whose candy-filled hairstyle was mocked on Facebook filed a lawsuit today against the teacher who posted the photo, claiming the act inflicted “emotional distress” upon her daughter. The complaint, filed in Cook County Court, said the 7-year-old at Overton Elementary School had seen a picture in a magazine of a woman whose elaborate hairstyle was decorated with colorful Jolly Rancher candies at the end...

The Northwest Herald reports: U.S. Rep. Melissa Bean (R-Ill.) warned her constituents of a scam involving fake Facebook accounts that use her picture, name and the names of her family members. Get the full story:

A Ford Heights man has been charged with sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl and taking a pornographic photo of her that was later posted on Facebook, the Cook County Sheriff's Office said today. Leroy Stephenson, 24, faces charges of aggravated criminal sexual assault and child pornography. In a hearing today in Markham Court, he was ordered held in lieu of $75,000 bail, according to the sheriff's office. Investigators learned the girl had been assaulted...

More than a dozen Bartlett High School students are being questioned about Facebook pictures involving alcohol and a stolen school trophy, the Daily Herald reports . Principal Kevin Skinkis said today that a teacher at the school discovered some pictures on Facebook and alerted school officials. In the photos, students appear to be at a party at a house. "There was a trophy from one of our trophy cases in the pictures," Skinkis said. "In some of...

After spending three months in the DuPage County Jail, a 19-year-old Naperville man was released today, hours after pleading guilty to sending a former girlfriend a Facebook message threatening to kill her if she didn't continue dating him. Christopher Bensfield of the 1300 block of Auburn Avenue had been in the jail since Jan. 28, after his arrest for sending the message Jan. 24. He was sentenced today to 6 months in jail, but since he...

A mother is fighting back against four youngsters she said created a fake Facebook account of her son, posting racist and sexual information purportedly by him. The mother, Laura Cook, filed a lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court today against the youths identified only by their initials, claiming they purposely defamed her teenage son and damaged his reputation. The 20-page suit claims defendants, R.C., A.G., K.Z. and M.S., created a profile on the popular social networking site...

A Far South Side man already charged with the rapes of two women he met through Facebook has been accused of sexually assaulting a third woman on the same day as one of the previous attacks, prosecutors said today. In all three cases, Wayne Smith, 25, is accused of arranging dates with women he met on the social networking site, then raping them and threatening to shoot them if they resisted or told anyone. Prosecutors in the latest case said Smith met the 23-year-old victim in person in October...

Six students studying in Japan have been accounted for following the deadly earthquake and tsunami, North Central College said Friday. Kimberly Larsson, assistant director for international programs at the Naperville college, said the school has six students studying in different parts of Japan. She said all students have made contact with their families via Skype, Facebook or phone as of Friday afternoon. “We’ve reached out to the families to...

A Far South Side man has been charged with raping a woman he met on Facebook. Wayne Smith, 25, of the 12200 block of South Wallace Street, was ordered held today on $200,000 bail on one count of aggravated criminal sexual assault . Prosecutors said the alleged attack of the 24-year-old woman took place at the home Smith shared with his mother. Prosecutors said Smith and the woman met for the first time Sunday night after first becoming acquainted on...

A day after a Chicago woman was accused in a lawsuit of striking and killing a man with her car while updating her Facebook page by cell phone, the woman’s mother today vehemently denied the allegations, saying that her daughter used the online site well before the crash occurred. Rosario Rodriguez said her daughter, Araceli Beas, posted that she needed to go to the gym as she sat in her car while waiting for it to warm up outside her...

The daughter of a Chicago man who was struck and killed by a vehicle last year filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the driver Monday alleging that she was updating her Facebook page with her cell phone when the incident occurred. Raymond Veloz, 70, was driving in the city’s South Chicago neighborhood on Dec. 7, 2010, when he got in a minor accident with another vehicle, according to the lawsuit filed in Cook County Circuit Court by...

Twitter has entered the operating room. Staff at Sherman Hospital in Elgin this morning used the social-networking Web site, along with YouTube and Facebook, to track a surgical team performing a laparoscopic hysterectomy on a 48-year-old woman. Marc Battaglia, who works for Sherman Hospital's PR firm, twitters about a hysterectomy surgery from his phone at Sherman Hospital in Elgin. Two other workers from the PR firm (right) are loading video onto YouTube.